小蝌蚪APP

Pulitzer Prize-Winning Science Writer to Speak on Mass Extinction

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Posted on March 28, 2018

Alice Jackson

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Elizabeth Kolbert, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for her best-selling book about mass extinction, will speak at the 小蝌蚪APP on Wednesday, April 4.

Recognized as one of America鈥檚 best science writers, Kolbert will speak at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Ballroom on how mass extinction specifically relates to the Gulf Coast region. During her presentation, which is free and open to the public, she will discuss and read from 鈥淭he Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History.鈥�

A reception and book signing will follow, according to Dr. Charlotte Pence, director of the Stokes Center for Creative Writing inside the department of English at South.

鈥淗aving Elizabeth Kolbert here to speak and read is part of our continuing effort to bring world-class writers to South for our students and the community,鈥� Pence said.

Kolbert, who is also a staff writer for The New Yorker, will talk about how climate change is a part of the overall mass extinction picture, the basis for her book.

Mass extinction is defined as the extinction of a large number of species within a relatively short period of geological time and thought to be due to factors such as a catastrophic global event or widespread environmental change that occurs too rapidly for most species to adapt. Paleontologists have determined from the globe鈥檚 fossil record that Earth has experienced five major mass extinctions, when more than 75 percent of species disappeared, and that each one included a major climate change. Today, many biologists suspect the planet is headed toward the sixth major mass extinction.

鈥淭he idea of mass extinction is simply a period of very high extinction rates, and many things are climbing toward very high extinction rates now. There鈥檚 pollution and the draining of marsh lands. There鈥檚 all sorts of ways we are changing the planet,鈥� Kolbert said during a recent telephone interview. 鈥淚n the rankings of worry, there are a lot of things to be worried about, such as how many species can go extinct before the life support systems of the planet we rely on begin to collapse.鈥�

Kolbert鈥檚 research included interviews with some of the world鈥檚 best-known scientists and biologists, including Alabama native E.O. Wilson, considered the world鈥檚 leading expert on ants.

鈥淒oing something to minimize climate change is actually one of the easiest things we can do because we know there are steps we can take to ameliorate things. We need to change our energy systems, and we need to do that pretty rapidly,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n terms of other things, that鈥檚 tougher. For instance, there鈥檚 microorganism changes, and there鈥檚 an awful lot of very smart people working on it.鈥�

She said globalization has raised many issues that people didn鈥檛 worry about several centuries ago.

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing more and more waves of extinctions that began after Columbus discovered the New World 500 years ago, and now global trade is ramping up, and we鈥檙e getting another big wave,鈥� Kolbert added. 鈥淎nd, I find that audiences I speak to almost see it in their own lives. For example, you used to see a lot of Monarch butterflies, and now you don鈥檛 see them as much. People get it that many beloved and widespread species are reducing in numbers.鈥�

Still, Kolbert said she does see opportunities for change before it鈥檚 too late.

鈥淎ctually, what we need now isn鈥檛 hope. What we need is courage. The issue is whether or not we鈥檙e going to do anything at all. Or, are we going to rise to a very enormous challenge,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 talk to college students the same way I talk to their parents and grandparents. This is the world you鈥檙e inheriting. Unfortunately, you guys are going to have to deal with the consequences, and the consequences are cumulative. I tell them they should be pretty annoyed, and they should make some noise.鈥�

Before the evening presentation, Kolbert will meet with and answer questions from science majors interested in writing on environmentalism and activism.

In addition to the Stokes Center for Creative Writing, Kolbert鈥檚 appearance is sponsored by the departments of English and biology, along with Phi Kappa Phi and the University鈥檚 Sustainability Committee.

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